[Epapazian]

Thought I'd pass along a review of Altaya's new 1:144 B-17G by someone who has actually held one in his hands--- an ebay seller who is usually honest in his evaluations. As I suspected, this is a new molding , with significant amounts of detail in terms of engraved lines, crisp transparencies, spinning props and tampo printing, etc. Also, the plane's wheels are fixed in the "down" position. Another positive is the lack of those hideous glue blobs and smears that mar Altaya's biplane series. On the negative side, there are some errors regarding the frames in the main cockpit window area, other transparencies are simulated via engraving and gray paint ( the rear gunner's position, notably ) and the machine guns are slightly too large and sometimes askew. Finally, while the fuselage is metal, most other parts are plastic. While I am not interested in buying planes from this line like the B-29, B-17, B-24 and Lancaster, which I already have via Corgi and/or Dragon, the possibility of obtaining a fairly decent 1:144 rendition of a FW-200, HE-177, Short Sterling, Cant Z 1007, JU-290, Emily or a Piaggio P. 108---which are good sized warbirds, even in this scale---has me drooling. More on this as new info surfaces.